| A Pile of News: November 2020 |
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A briefing on news and information from the pile driving contractors, associated manufacturers, construction suppliers and affiliated engineers who comprise the PDCA.
By Matt Bisbee, PDCA |
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| From the Association & Chapters |
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Please VOTE: Nov. 3 is Election Day in the U.S.; if you haven't already voted, visit your polling place and select your choices for President, the U.S. Congress, state/local offices and ballot questions.
- PDCA members in good standing will receive e-ballots this week on which you vote for the 2021 PDCA Executive Committee and Board of Directors. Please complete and return your ballots promptly.
The PDCA 2020 Annual Conference Webinar Series resumes Wednesday, and then concludes on Wednesday, Dec. 2. Registration is FREE to PDCA members; non-members can attend for $100 per session (ask about applying registration to PDCA membership). Each program is delivered through Zoom and includes PDH credit. Click the program to register below (all times Eastern).
PDCA and Pile Dynamics, Inc. present: Deep Foundations Dynamic Testing & Analysis (DFDTA) in Orlando, Nov. 11-13. The Dynamic Measurement and Analysis Proficiency Test offered on Nov. 13. COVID-19 safety protocols will be observed.
PDCA of South Carolina Chapter hosts its fourth quarter dinner meeting on Nov. 12 in Charleston; Terracon will present on a pile test program (1 PDH). Local, state and federal recommendations for COVID-19 safety will be observed. For more information and online registration, CLICK HERE.
PDCA of the Gulf Coast Chapter gathered for a skeet shoot/fourth quarter chapter meeting in Port Allen, LA on Oct. 30. Click for event photos.
PileDriver magazine, Issue #5, 2020 is now available! Click for the digital edition.
A PDCA partner offers FREE, Employee Retention Summit for Manufacturers, Nov 9-11 |
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| Equipment Corporation of America, you are this month's winner! Send an email to marian@piledrivers.org before the end of October to claim your prize! |
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The monthly round-up:
- Chris LeBlanc brings 40 years' construction experience to his new role, industrial operations manager, at APC Construction, LLC
- Scott Swindler elevates to VP infrastructure, Dan Keaton named director of business services at Cajun Industries in Baton Rouge; Saul Raya promoted to VP for the Houston Civil team
- Tim Avery joins Keller as business development manager for West Coast operations
- Equipment Corporation of America adds six: Rod Kern and Gus Delfarno in engineering, Greg Barta and Rex Christensen as account managers and Matt Nastala and Stephen Funaiock as service managers
- Walter Van Zuthem promoted to EVP at JD Fields & Company, Inc. in Houston
- David Reisen, P.E. named senior project manager in Port Saint Joe, FL office of Dewberry
- Jeff Raun becomes senior environmental project manager at EXP Anchorage
- Randy Daub, P.E. named manager for new Geo-Technology Associates, Inc. Pennsylvania office
- David Garbarino joins GTA as chief administrative officer at Maryland HQ
- Dennis Kiptoo, Stephanie Gomez, Saphal Phuyal, Matthew Perella and Paul Cressant round out the newest class of civil engineers at GRL Engineers
- Jon Arita is the new, Ft. Worth-based director of logistics at Terracon
- Harry van der Starre enters retirement after 43 years at PVE Equipment congratulations and best wishes!
Recognitions:
- Peter Hill, chairman at Keller, lauded for championing women in the workplace
- Ed McQueary earns notice from Patriot Construction and Industrial for safety practices
- Richard Morales, PE of LB Foster honored as an 'unsung hero' by the Boy Scouts of America
- Julie Fuller, president/COO of Tadano Mantis, named Outstanding Woman in Manufacturing
- Andy Walters of American Engineering Testing wins third term on ASCE Wisconsin Board
- Chris Brazell, senior VP at EMC Engineering Services of Savannah, GA, elected trustee for the Middle Georgia State University Foundation, Inc.
- Phil Welker, P.E. of GeoEngineers named Fellow by the Society of American Military Engineers
- Vanessa Zambo of Terracon recognized as 2020 Women Who Mean Business in Kansas City
- CEO Mark Israel of Orlando-based Universal Engineering Sciences (UES) named to Florida Trend Influential Business Leaders
- Rey Villa MS, P.E., also of UES, joins ASCE Miami-Dade Branch Board
Our sympathies:
We are saddened to learn of the passing of UES field supervisor Billy Billings, Sr. of Orlando, who spent the past 25 years with the firm and positively impacted hundreds of engineers' careers. |
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Acquisitions & Expansions:
Recognitions:
Projects:
APC Construction, LLC wins two Washington, D.C. projects; an FBI office building and a defense facility renovation. The Louisiana contractor also works close to home; is part of venture selected to build the new Canal Street Ferry Terminal in New Orleans.
Boh Bros. Construction is completing a project in New Orleans designed to improve drainage in the flood-prone region; see then-and-now photos of the USACE initiative.
Clark Construction announces the project roster for the new terminal at Kansas City International Airport has reached 100 Minority and Women-Owned Businesses.
Foundation Constructors, Inc. works on the Mokelumne Bridge where it crosses California's Interstate 5; see a drone photo of trestle construction, which precedes pile placement.
Hal Jones Contractor installed new floating docks on Jacksonville, FL river front.
Keller has a crew on-site assisting in the Hampton Roads Bridge Tunnel Expansion.
Massman Construction Co. works in New Orleans to implement USACE plans for hurricane mitigation infrastructure; see photos of a new floodwall on Lake Borgne.
McCarthy Building Companies drives infill sheets at the Texas Gulf Coast Port in this time-lapse video.
GeoQuip, Inc. provides vibro, clamp to extract piles in North Carolina bridge demo.
ECS Limited will provide materials testing services for the half-billion dollar Texas A&M Innovation Plaza campus in Houston. Developers broke ground Oct. 1.
Aggregate Technologies works on TxDOT initiative to improve Houston's hurricane evacuation route; completes sensitive I-10 bridge demo over the Brazos River.
Junttan USA equipment is in action at the Bruckner Interchange in the Bronx, NY while consultant Richard Higginboham of GZA GeoEnvironmental "burns the candle" to ensure project success.
Dewberry awarded a joint contract to provide general design and civil works for the Savannah, GA District USACE and the South Atlantic Division.
New member shout-out I! Welcome South Florida contractor Poseidon Dredge & Marine, which joined PDCA between jobs stabilizing a Palm Beach bridge to handle possible use by presidential motorcade and beautifying Daytona's municipal riverfront.
New-member shout-out II! They're more Canadian than Anheuser-Busch-owned Labatts; welcome PRECO-MSE, builder of deep foundations in Eastern Canada for more than 45 years; see a current job in Montreal.
Giving back:
Balfour Beatty hosted the Together Allies virtual summit to promote workplace inclusion.
Clark Construction has contributed more than $160,000 to 815 non-profit organizations combatting COVID-19; donations were sent in $100 increments to recipients that employees identified.
Corman Kokosing offers signing bonuses to new hires in Chesapeake/Newport News/Norfolk, Virginia markets.
Kiewit's Colorado team participated in the CureSearch for Children's Cancer walk, bringing the total company giving to-date to more than $3.5 million.
Sunroc joined Operation Firewood Rescue following a severe Utah windstorm; this included delivery of tree debris to nearby tribal communities hit hard by COVID-19 that rely on wood for energy.
Nucor implemented a philanthropic safety initiative at its Arkansas steel mill; it helped generate a $21,460 for the Le Bonheur Children's Hospital in nearby Memphis, TN.
Sunbelt Equipment has partnered with the 2020 Marine Corps Marathon. The company sponsors staff in the virtual affair which runs between Sept. 27Nov. 10.
Haley & Aldrich generated $60,300 in donations to Boston Children's Hospital and Brigham and Women's Hospital, despite cancellation of the 10th Annual Charity Golf Tourney (PDCA member Keller North America was among the donors). |
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Village Living, the community newspaper of Mountain Brook, AL, profiles longtime resident Dick Shea, co-founder of Morris-Shea Bridge Company. Described as modest and unpretentious, Shea earns praise from local mayor Stewart Welch III as "one of the most unsung heroes of our city."
Alaskan Contractor features a fascinating account of Orion Marine Group's completion of a seawall improvement along a U.S. Air Force runway at Cape Lisburne in remote, northern Alaska.
FOX 8-TV Cleveland reports on the reopening of the Vrooman Road bridge over the Grand River near I-90 in northern Ohio; The Great Lakes Construction Company began the project in 2018.
Marina Dock Age covers the recent opening of the Somers Point Marina on New Jersey's Intercoastal Waterway; Walters Marine Construction in nearby Ocean View, NJ installed the floating docks.
FOX 21-TV Duluth, MN was on-location for the LakeWalk project, on which American Engineering Testing, Inc. is consulting.
The Platform blog in Seattle interviews Robert "Red" Robinson, at Shannon & Wilson, about the massive light rail extension project. |
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| Field Notes Football Season |
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Reigning NCAA national champ LSU is said to have lost a lot of talent to the NFL and graduation. Though it's been a slow start for the 2020 Tigers, fans like Matthew Morales, P.E. of Eustis Engineering in New Orleans still proudly support the purple and gold, but his focus is winning fishing rodeos this season.
The 2019 NCAA runner-up Clemson, arguably the "King" of Palmetto State football programs, appears as a favorite to take the title this season. It's unclear by this photo if die-hard South Carolina Gamecocks fan John King of Pile Drivers, Inc. has joined the Tiger bandwagon or is avoiding a stigma revealed in SEC Shorts.
Nick Saban won't be living there, but some of his University of Alabama players or student staff might. Morris-Shea is completing a new student housing complex with a pile foundation in Tuscaloosa, AL.
The UCF Knights (2017 national champs, per FL Legislative action ) call their football home "The Bounce House." Shaking aside, UES vibration monitoring deemed the stadium sound. i4BUSiNESS Magazine talked to SVP Ken Derick MS, P.E. about their in-demand service on high profile structures.
Inspired by a North Carolina TV news report on public art that shows lifts from Sunbelt Equipment in the footage, Dan LoCascio captured a photo of a similar instance in Tampa where his company equipment facilitated a mural honoring his beloved Buccaneers and their new QB Tom Brady.
In its inaugural year as the McCarthy-built home to the relocated Raiders, Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas was the site of an Oct. 4 ceremony recognizing local frontline medical workers who performed the pre-game lighting of the Al Davis Memorial Torch honoring the late, longtime owner and NFL legend.
The Sin City stadium is a "site" to see...more than 15 million TV viewers caught a glimpse during Monday Night Football coverage of the Raiders' home-opener against the Saints. Of note for PDCA, Nucor provided all steel beams for the new facility. |
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| Quotable: "Be curious, flexible, and willing to take that new opportunity. Sometimes you must jump in and get your hands dirty, but you'll learn something doing that." Chris Kehl, VP, Braun Intertec Corp. wise words for an engineer or even a running back who finds an unexpected hole. |
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